Recent Florida News

December 2024 Newsletter

Michigan's medical liability reform laws threatened by rushed legislation In a rush to pass legislation backed by personal injury lawyers, Michigan lawmakers risk dismantling existing laws that have stabilized the state’s health care environment for three decades....

November 2024 Newsletter

Socializing and improving safeguards against liability Social media presents unique risks for health care professionals, making well-crafted policies essential to mitigate growing liability concerns. Physician’s Weekly presents a podcast series offering fresh...

MPL Severity on the Rise: A Gathering Storm

Although the number of medical professional liability (MPL) lawsuits, known as claim frequency, has decreased during the past decade, the average amount spent overall on claims, known as severity, continues to increase. Frequency did not spike even after the COVID-19...

Current Medical Liability Laws

Damage Caps	For physicians $500,000 cap on non-economic damages per claimant with any one physician not responsible for more than $500,000. For nonpractitioners, $750,000 cap on non-economic damages. The cap increases to $1 million in non-economic damages for physicians if the negligence resulted in death or a permanent vegetative state or if the court finds that a manifest injustice would occur unless the non-economic damages cap was increased because the non-economic harm sustained by the patient was particularly severe and the defendant’s negligence caused a catastrophic injury to the patient. (2003)
Joint Liability Reform	Yes. Defendants are responsible only for their proportionate share of negligence.
Collateral Source Reform	Yes, and the court must reduce damages by the amounts paid to the claimant from collateral sources. If a right of subrogation exists, there is no reduction in damages. Benefits received by the government sources are not considered collateral benefits.
Attorney Fees Limited	Patients receive 70% of the first $250,000 awarded and 90% of the remainder of the award. Attorneys will still get payment for court and witness expenses. (2004) Patients may waive contingency fee limits.
Periodic Payments Permitted	Yes, for future economic awards exceeding $250,000, the court must order periodic payments at the request of any party unless the court determines that manifest injustice would result to any party.